Former Japan and Yugoslavia soccer national team manager Ivica Osim has died, Austrian club Sturm Graz, one of the clubs he piloted, said Sunday. He was 80.
Born in Sarajevo, Osim leaves behind a large legacy due to the unifying role he had in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider Balkans region after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
A former forward who played for Yugoslavia at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Osim guided that country to the quarterfinals at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He managed Japan after the 2006 World Cup but left the post in November 2007 after suffering a brain infarction.